Extreme Wealth: Jennifer Risher and the Limits of Sudden Wealth
Bribe, Swindle or Steal
The author and philanthropist Jennifer Risher continues our series on extreme wealth by telling the story of her ear-popping rise from a middle-class Microsoft employee in the early ‘90s to an unexpected multimillionaire. The stock options she accrued with her husband, David — a fellow Microsoft employee who went on to join Amazon and who is now the CEO of Lyft — gave Jennifer immediate entry to a world of privilege that, as the child of a working-class household, she’d never expected to join. Her experience showed her the peculiar nature of personal wealth: an agent of tremendous...
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Extreme Wealth: Steve Fishman Inside the Mind of Prisoner Bernie Madoff
Bribe, Swindle or Steal
In this episode — another in our series on extreme wealth — the journalist Steve Fishman discusses his reporting on Bernie Madoff and the collapse of Madoff’s $65 billion ponzi scheme. Steve doggedly pursued the story even after the financier was sent to a federal prison in North Carolina. Eventually the two men connected for a series of phone interviews that gave Steve a unique insight into the truths and lies that enabled Madoff to con investors at an industrial scale. Steve explains that greed was but one motivation for Madoff, an apex Manhattan insider who never forgot humiliations...
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Extreme Wealth: Clay Cockrell and the Champagne Problems of the 1%
Bribe, Swindle or Steal
This week we debut a special project within Bribe, Swindle or Steal: single-topic episodes that focus on extreme wealth. For years Alexandra Wrage has worked on corporate compliance and anti-corruption efforts, a field that provides a front-row view into human corruptibility. In these episodes, she digs into the practical, philosophical, political, and even spiritual roots of why people risk everything—from scandal to criminal charges—for the allure of money, even when all of their material needs are more than covered. She will explore some surprising challenges of wealth alongside the...
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The Sentencing of Roger Stone
Bribe, Swindle or Steal
In this episode from 2020, Randall Eliason, law professor and former Assistant U.S. Attorney provides an excellent account of the days leading up to the sentencing of political operative Roger Stone. The Department of Justice’s unprecedented interference in--and reversal of--its prosecutorial team’s recommendation led to the resignation from the case of all four prosecutors. Over 2000 former DOJ officials called on Attorney General Barr to resign in the wake of his interference in the case. This episode was originally published on 4 March 2020.
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Primer on Money-Laundering
Bribe, Swindle or Steal
A 22-year veteran of Treasury and consultant to the Dept of Justice, John Madinger sheds light on some of the money-laundering schemes he has uncovered and why the Breaking Bad car wash scheme probably wouldn’t have worked. This episode was originally posted: December 27, 2017
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“Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How it Changes Us”
Bribe, Swindle or Steal
Brian Klaas, Associate Professor at University College London and host of the award-winning podcast “Power Corrupts,” joins us to discuss his book “Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us”. Brian describes research on who is drawn to positions of power and how power impacts us, including potentially re-wiring our brains. This episode was originally published 30 March 2022.
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How Local News Uncovers Local Fraud
Bribe, Swindle or Steal
David Jackson, a senior reporter with Injustice Watch, discusses his work exposing corruption, which has led to both indictments and legislative reform.
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The U.S. College Admissions Scandal: Jonathan Turner
Bribe, Swindle or Steal
Jonathan Turner, former Vice President, Ethics & Compliance, at Smith & Nephew in Memphis, discusses the admissions scandal that has rattled several top-tier U.S. universities and ties some of the lessons learned back to the work of compliance professionals. This episode was originally published 2 October 2019.
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Anand Mangnale on the Risks of Investigative Journalism
Bribe, Swindle or Steal
Anand Mangnale of the OCCRP joins the podcast to describe his investigation into the practices of the vast and powerful Adnani Group in India, the spyware discovered on his phone as soon as the story began to break and the subsequent efforts to silence him, including bizarre charges of financial support of terrorism.
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The Corrupt Underbelly of Sport
Bribe, Swindle or Steal
Declan Hill discusses the pervasive and sinister nature of match-fixing and how we can prevent sport from being turned into theater. This episode was originially posted on 2 August, 2017.
info_outlinePavel Verkhniatsky joins the podcast from Kyiv where he is the Managing Partner of COSA Solutions with particular expertise in sophisticated due diligence and cross-border investigations. We range from the very broad and geopolitical to the very specific as Pavel discusses the impact of sanctions on Russia, as well as common due diligence 'red flags'.